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An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis to Assess Impact of Introduction of Co-Payment on Emergency Room Visits in Cyprus

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Abstract

Introduction

A co-payment fee of EUR10 was introduced in Cyprus, in order to cope with overcrowding of emergency room services. The scope of this paper is the assessment of the short-term impact of this measure.

Methods

We used an interrupted time-series autoregressive integrated moving average model, and we analyzed official data from Cyprus’ largest emergency room facility for three years.

Results

Co-payment is associated with a 16 % statistically significant reduction of emergency room visits. No impact was observed in categories of teenagers, children, infants, and people over 70 years old.

Conclusions

Co-payment was proven to be effective in Cyprus’ emergency room setting and is expected to lessen congestion in the emergency room. The price insensitivity of people aged over 70 years, teenagers, children and infants, merits additional research for the identification of the underlying reasons.

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Acknowledgments

This study was approved by Cyprus Health Research Board (0059/2012). We are grateful to the Editor of the Journal, Tim Wrightson, and two anonymous referees for their constructive comments.

Funding

No funding was received.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Care Management Programme, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Panagiotis Petrou

  2. Health Insurance Organization, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Panagiotis Petrou

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  1. Panagiotis Petrou
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Correspondence to Panagiotis Petrou.

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Petrou, P. An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis to Assess Impact of Introduction of Co-Payment on Emergency Room Visits in Cyprus. Appl Health Econ Health Policy 13, 515–523 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-015-0169-2

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